Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot Plans To Hike OBC Quota

Jaipur: In the election year, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has now come up with one more populist announcement of a hike in OBC quota by six percent. He also hinted at a hike in the SC-ST quota. With this, the overall reservation in the state will increase from 64 to 70 percent.

Gehlot made the announcement in a public meeting of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at Mangarh Dham on Wednesday and later tweeted about this in detail.

In a series of tweets on Wednesday night, Gehlot posted, "There has been a long-pending demand to increase the OBC quota. We will fulfill this demand and reserve 6 percent for most backward castes within OBC.

Additional 6 per cent reservation for OBCs

"In addition to the existing 21 per cent reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC) in the state, 6 per cent additional reservation will be given, which will be reserved for the most backward castes of the OBC category," Gehlot said in the tweet.

"A survey will be conducted by the OBC commission to identify the most backward castes in the OBC category and the commission will submit the report in a time-bound manner. With this, the most backward castes will get more opportunities for education and service in the government sector. Gehlot has also hinted at a hike of quota up to two percent for SC-ST communities," he continued.

"Various organisations of SC-ST are also continuously demanding reservation based on population. The government is also getting this demand tested," tweeted Gehlot.

While interacting with media in Jaipur on Thursday, Gehlot said that after the 10 percent reservation for the economically weaker section we have crossed the limit of 50 percent so looking at this, we decided to fulfill the long pending demand of OBC and SC-ST communities for an increase in quota.

OBC comprise more than 50% of Rajasthan's population

There is already 64 per cent reservation in Rajasthan with 21 percent for OBC, 12 for ST, 16 for SC, 5 for most backward class, and 10 for economically weaker sections. The announcement made by Gehlot is being taken as a bid to woo the OBC community which is more than 50 percent of the Rajasthan population comprising around 90 casts and communities.

The opposition BJP has termed it a mere election announcement that can not be implemented before the election. Leader of Opposition Rajendra Rathore said that the increase in quota needs a recommendation of the OBC commission based on a detailed study, but there are no members in the OBC commission for the last 20 months. Only the chairperson is working there.